There are lots of things in racing that you can afford to learn the hard way. What's the best setup for your car? What air pressure should you run? Does a neon yellow and orange paint scheme look good on the racetrack? You get the idea.
Last month we followed along...
Last month we followed along to show you how Brian Butler of Butler Built racing seats fitted racer Jason Gulledge for this aluminum racing seat. Now we'll show you how to get it in the car.
But when it comes to your safety equipment, that's one area that you really need to nail down right from the start. But never fear, Circle Track is here to help. We recently spent a long evening at the Performance Automotive shop owned by longtime racer and car builder Les Lesneski. Lesneski was building the framework to install a new Butler Built seat into a Monte Carlo being built to race in the Super Street class (basically a high-end Street Stock).
Granted, different car builders have their own little tricks when it comes to installing a racing seat and belts into a race car. But the main points are to build a hoop attached to the rollcage that both the seat and belts can be attached to. After that it's just a matter of properly attaching the seat and belts to the hoop and rollcage. This way, in the event you take a hit in the driver-side door hard enough to crush the door bars, you--safely inside your racing seat--will move right along with it instead of being tied down while the bars are pushed into you.
1 Here's what we are starting...
1 Here's what we are starting with. Gulledge purchased a car that another car builder had started but not finished. The floorpan was in poor shape, so Gulledge cut it out. By the time we arrived, Gulledge and car builder Les Lesneski had already put in the X-brace you can see here.
As you will see, this chassis has a long way to go until it is ready to be called a race car. So the seat and belt installation is only roughed in since it will have to come back out again. Still, you will see more than enough to get you going on your own build.
2 We've seen seat hoops made...
2 We've seen seat hoops made of the same tubing the rollcage is constructed from, but Lesneski prefers to use thick-wall 1-inch tubing. Here's the general shape that's just wider than the seat. He also fabricated the seat mounting brackets, but you can also purchase them already made from Butler Built if you like.
3 The hoop's main contact...
3 The hoop's main contact points will be with the rear lower crossbar, as you can see here. Another tube will connect it to the lower door bar, and it will also be lightly tacked to the frame. But the main connection will be to the rollcage.
4 After Lesneski confirmed...
4 After Lesneski confirmed that the hoop fits the car correctly, he pulled it out to install a sheetmetal floorpan. Here, he uses a hole saw to cut an opening in the sheetmetal so that the right-side of the hoop can be attached to the X-brace you saw previously.
5 Here, the hoop is back...
5 Here, the hoop is back in place after the floorpan has been installed. If you look closely, you can see where the piece of tubing runs through the floor to connect the hoop to the X-brace.
6 Gulledge sets the seat...
6 Gulledge sets the seat in place to begin the process of determining exactly where it needs to be located inside the car. When doing this, you need to also try to take into account where the pedals will need to mount (if they aren't already), the steering wheel location and your line of sight. Be prepared to put the seat in and pull it back out more times than you can count before you are done.
7 Once Gulledge has marked...
7 Once Gulledge has marked where he is comfortable in the seat, Lesneski welds in the seat mount brackets. The brackets have slots to allow for fine tuning the seat later on. You will also notice Lesneski has added a second crossbar. This is in the best spot for attaching the anti-submarine belt.
8 Gulledge locates and levels...
8 Gulledge locates and levels the seat back mounting bracket before welding it in place. It's difficult to see here, but the sheetmetal has been slotted. The bracket will be welded directly to the rollcage's upper rear crossbar. The bracket is a piece that we sourced from Butler Built.
9 This is the aluminum brace...
9 This is the aluminum brace that is used to bolt the seat to the bracket that has already been welded to the rollcage. Butler Built makes it large on purpose, so it will probably need to be cut down to fit precisely in your race car.
10 After cutting the brace...
10 After cutting the brace to fit the seat and the bracket, Lesneski clamps the brace to the back of the seat so it won’t move while he drills four bolt holes for securing the seat to the bracket.
11 After the positioning...
11 After the positioning for the holes has been located and marked, Gulledge drills four into the steel bracket.
12 The brace is bolted to...
12 The brace is bolted to the seat back bracket with four 5/16 Grade 8 bolts.
13 Use two cross braces to...
13 Use two cross braces to connect the seat to the hoop. These will bolt to the slotted brackets with 5/16- or 1/2-inch Grade 8 bolts. Mount the seat to the braces with four bolts each, spaced as widely as possible. This helps prevent the seat from tearing loose in the event of a wreck.
14 We only have two holes...
14 We only have two holes drilled at this point, but mount the seat back to the bracket with four Grade 8 bolts as well. Using button-head bolts here can make life a little easier on your back. You will also notice the use of large fender washers. These are critical to provide a more widely distributed clamping load on the aluminum sheetmetal the seat is constructed from to minimize the chance of it ripping loose. All we had on hand were Grade 5 fender washers, so they will be replaced with hardened fender washers on final assembly.
15 After the seat's position...
15 After the seat's position has been located, Lesneski welded in these brackets for mounting up the lap belts for the Impact five-point harness. They should be slightly behind the driver's hips so that the lap belt will be able to make one continuous arc from one side of the hoop, across the driver's hips, and to the other without any bends or kinks.
16 Impact includes bolt-in...
16 Impact includes bolt-in brackets. The belt loops through this steel bracket which can then be bolted to the tab that was already welded in place. This method allows you to adjust the angle of the bolt in bracket so that the belt isn't kinked at one side or the other but is instead engaged equally all the way across. When the driver is in place, the lap belts should ride over his or her hips so that it doesn't even touch or rub the side of the seat.
17 The anti-submarine belt...
17 The anti-submarine belt is wrapped around the bottom bar that has already been welded securely to the hoop.
18 Just as with the lap belts,...
18 Just as with the lap belts, when the driver is belted in, the anti-submarine belt shouldn't even touch the edges of the hole in the seat that it is routed through.
19 You can wrap the shoulder...
19 You can wrap the shoulder belts over the upper crossbar on the rollcage, but Gulledge and Lesneski chose to weld in a bracket a bit lower. Here, Gulledge finds and marks the center point of the seat on the bar so that the belts will place an even load across the driver's shoulders and chest.
20 Lesneski securely welds...
20 Lesneski securely welds in the tab. If you aren't confident in your welding skills, have a qualified welder help you out with all the tabs securing both your racing seat and belts.
21 One slide-through bracket...
21 One slide-through bracket is bolted to each side of the tab, and then the shoulder belts are routed through them. You can also weld two separate mounting brackets to the bar and route one belt to each.
22 The 3-inch-wide Impact...
22 The 3-inch-wide Impact belts should provide an excellent protection package when paired with the Butler Built seat.